Roses In December
by thinking of england
Summary: To be a Marauder means ensuing mischief and mayhem that shatters all boundaries. For Sirius it especially means chasing skirts. When he's drawn to a girl whose also courting romance without love, both find themselves entangled in a beautiful mess.
1. Beginnings

**A/N: So this is a Sirius/OC paired story with the whole Lily/James love/hate drama going on as well, just because this story is very Marauder-centric... It begins pretty light and carefree, however, an ominous darkness lurks in the background. So we shall see about that.  
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**Most stories about relationships just show the beauty of two people who seem to click, but in light of recent events in my life, I'll be bringing out some full fledged misfortune and brutally honest truths in this little gem alongside some of the saucy lurveeee. Enjoy.**

**I.**

The weather was strange, a thick mist that rolled off the lake and seemed to swallow up anything in its path. Sirius strained his eyes to make out the vague outline of the Forbidden Forest off in the distance.

"I don't really know why Lily didn't like the chocolate frogs I gave her. You reckon she's allergic or something?" asked James pensively, rumpling his dark, shaggy hair. He was lounged out on his four-poster idly skimming through a Quidditch magazine.

Remus shrugged. "She may still be touchy about when we dumped six gallons of lake water on her head on Monday."

"That so wasn't my fault," James defended, flopping down onto his back. "Snivelly wasn't supposed to let her go first, he's just a slimy prick with no sense of chivalry."

Sirius snorted and turned away from the window. James had overwhelming charm, but very little tact, when it came to girls. "You have to win the ladies over with manners, Potter. When I'm trying to get on a bird's good side, I try not to play embarrassing pranks on her. Often. A bit of trickery every now and then lets her know you're interested."

"You could have at least gave her your robes. She was wearing a white shirt," added Peter, laughing breathily.

"Sod off, you're bonkers!" James sat up again, looking at the other three boys through his wire-framed glasses. He sighed. "I'm bored, I wish it was a full moon."

"Maybe you do," Remus replied darkly, not drawing his attention away from the passage he was annotating. The sandy blonde haired boy sucked on the end of his sugar quill and flipped a page.

"We should go out and do something crazy tonight," said James. "I'm feeling a bit wild."

Sirius glanced over at the clock. "You know, It's only 10 o'clock. We should take a trip to Hogsmeade."

"I could use a butterbeer," agreed James. "Now where the bloody hell did we leave the map?"

"I dunno. Wormy, go look in the wardrobe," ordered Sirius. As soon as Peter lifted himself off the bed, Sirius snagged one of his atomic fireballs.

"What about your essays? We have Potions tomorrow," Remus said, raising his voice over the commotion of James rummaging through a stack of dirty laundry, rubbish, and textbooks. "And no, I won't let you copy mine later," he replied to Sirius' pleading glance.

"Mine is already half done, and I bet I can convince Prewett to finish it. Or at least hex him into it," said James. He triumphantly help up a silky green cloak with floral patterns and a lacy fringe. "Here we are!"

"Prewett has been lippy lately. Maybe we should prank him a bit more," replied Sirius. "Just so he'll do our work out of respect."

Remus chuckled amusedly.

"Oy!" Peter furrowed his brow. "There's the cloak, but I can't find the map!" he whined.

"Then you're on lookout, Wormy," shrugged Sirius, grinning. His hair was smoothed back into a ponytail, exposing the tiny silver hoop in his left ear.

Remus sighed and set his novel aside. "This is probably against all of my better judgment... But try looking in Sirius' nightstand. Top shelf."

"Score! Thanks Moony," James grinned. He glanced fondly at the neatly folded scrap of parchment the four boys had created.

Remus nodded, "You guys have fun. And if you bring be back some licorice that doesn't bite, I'll even think about helping you with your essays."

"No way, you're coming with us. You spend way too much time studying like a good little werewolf," said James, grabbing Remus' forearms and yanking him off the bed. Sirius scooped up the abandoned novel and held it upside down at arms length.

Peter squinted at the small red book. "Charms to Colour Your World. Wow, that's a cheeky pun."

"We should turn Snape's robes pink. People may think he's a girl… Well a hideously unattractive one at that," replied Sirius with a frown. He looked over at Remus. "Think you could do it?"

Remus shrugged, hand slipping into the inside pocket of his robes. "Well I've been meaning to give it a go... _Colocultum_!"

A jet of white light shot out of Remus' wand, nailing Sirius on the forehead.

"Watch it, you almost took my eye out," grumbled Sirius, rubbing his head. Remus clasped a hand over his mouth, body shaking with silent laughter while James and Peter burst out into hysterics.

"Change him back!" James gasped between fits of laughter, clutching his side.

Remus was beaming. "I don't know, pink is a nice choice of colour for our Padfoot."

"Sod off," Sirius grumbled, glancing over his shoulder at the mirror. His hair was a shade of pink resembling Drooble's bubblegum.

James nicked the book off of the floor, skimming through the pages. "I think Lily used this same charm on me Valentine's day of our third year. I was pink for hours." He couldn't stop chuckling.

Sirius arched his eyebrow. "Moony, you'd better fix this right now!" he exclaimed.

"I haven't read about the countercurse yet," smirked Remus, leaning against the antique wardrobe. "Guess you'll have to go looking like that."

"Better hope Madame Rosmerta isn't working tonight. She only goes for manly men," James added, puffing out his chest.

"Much like Lily's affinity for babbling idiots," Remus commented dryly. With a flick of his wand, Sirius' hair was jet black again.

Peter knelt down to tie his shoelaces. "Do you think we can get the Tuesdays discount on Jelly Slugs if we hang around Honeyduke's past midnight?" he asked.

"I'll get you a five finger discount, Wormy," replied Sirius. He unfolded the map and tapped it with the tip of his wand. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

**II.**

Professor Slughorn meandered around the dungeon, peering into various students' cauldrons as he went. His gingery colored mustache bristled in delight as he passed by Lily Evan's table.

"Miss Evans really has mastered the smooth texture, billowing smoke, and sunshine yellow color that a perfect Euphoria Elixir should be. Nice work," he beamed. Lily grinned back, cheeks flushing slightly pink.

"She's so perfect," sighed James. "She's got brains, sweet knockers, a fiery attitude... The one thing that's missing in her life is me."

Slughorn passed by the Marauder's table, making a face at the orange potion brewing in Sirius' cauldron. It was emitting a very sour smell.

"Yours seems to be acceptable as well, Mr. Potter," Slughorn nodded.

"Thank you sir." James arched an eyebrow, studying the fizzy concoction in his own cauldron. He had attended way too many Slug Club meetings to expect anything less.

Making his way to the front of the dungeon, Slughorn leaned against his desk. "We have a minute or so left, would anybody like to try theirs?"

Lily appeared to be conferring with the fair-skinned girl sitting next to her as to whether or not to give it a shot. Sirius checked out Elladora Stark's flowing chestnut hair and the way her uniform shirt stretched tight across her chest, smirking.

He slyly flicked his wand under the table, causing the hand of the Slytherin boy at the next cauldron to shoot up in response.

"You git," he muttered darkly at Sirius, peering uncertainly into his cauldron.

Slughorn rocked back onto his heels, grinning. "Oho, since you've kindly volunteered Mr. Rookwood, then maybe you'd like to give your potion a try as well?" he asked.

Sirius stopped sniggering.

A high pitched bell rang off in the distance and the murmur of conversations filled the air as everybody moved to clean up. Sirius smirked and nudged Remus with his elbow, proudly scooping up a flask full of his sub-par potion. "That was close, huh?"

"Cheeky," Remus replied, shaking his head.

"You got lucky, Black," said Elladora. One hand on her hip, she smirked at Sirius. "I hear when you forget the ginger roots, elixirs can cause terrible sinus problems."

"Well Stark, our dorm happens to be full of tissues," Sirius replied. "So I think I'm covered."

James stood chuckling by his best mate's side, rumpling his hair to make it look messy. Lily scowled, collecting her battered copy of Advanced Potion Making and resisting the overwhelming urge to smack James' arm away.

"One day I'm going to put a sticking charm on Potter's hand while he's doing that," Ella commented dryly to Lily.

"Yeah? Make it sooner than later," the red-head chuckled, hitching her overstuffed book bag higher up on her shoulder as they headed out of the classroom.

Sirius shook his head. "We should put itching powder in her bra for saying that," he replied, loud enough for Ella to hear.

She just whispered something to Lily, and the two of them giggled as they began to ascend the stone staircase.

"I did just nick some last night at Zonko's, convenient!" James replied, turning to face his mates. "Maybe the house elves in the kitchen have ins with the ones who do the laundry."

"I'm sure they do all the chores around here," shrugged Remus.

An awkwardly thin, pallid boy with greasy hair shoved by Peter in his haste to exit the dungeon.

"Watch where you're going, Snivelly! You walk like you have your head up your arse," called out Sirius. "Should we do the pink thing now?" he asked the other three. Peter nodded enthusiastically in a manner that much resembled a scary bobble-head doll.

"Let's wait until dinner," replied James. "More people will be around."

"Because of course there needs to be an audience to appreciate our mockery," Remus said sarcastically. Severus Snape skitted up the stairs, hunched over so that a greasy curtain of black hair covered his face.

James clapped his on the shoulder. "Good thinking, mate."

Remus pulled a few squares of milk chocolate out of his pocket, popping them into his mouth one by one. He brushed strands of sandy blonde hair out of his eyes as he trudged up the stairs.

"Full moon's creeping up on you, eh?" Peter asked quietly.

"I'm pretty sure it's sometime this weekend. Prongs?"

Reaching into his small stack of books, James pulled out a half-completed Astronomy assignment. While it was extremely convenient for planning out some of their midnight escapades, James only struggled through the class to catch extra glimpses of Lily each day.

Remus chewed his chocolate, glancing at the chart. "Wow, Friday, huh?"

"Friday night? Damn," Sirius swore, frowning. "I'm supposed to go bird watching by the lake with Cirra."

"I thought you wanted to shag Tegan?" said Peter. "Her and Cirra are like... mates."

"And what happened to that skinny Hufflepuff from the party last weekend?" asked Remus.

Sirius smirked. "The spindly one? Thinks my true name is Ashton. Tegan? Disappointment. Cirra? promising. She does this flirty little thing with her tongue where she-"

"-You go through girls more often than Prewett changes his socks," interrupted Remus.

"Good for you!" James slapped Sirius on the back. "You're living life Marauder-style. Which is brill since nobody else here is."

"Well, that's been true ever since Prongs here confessed his undying love for Lily," replied Remus. "The only time you might settle is once you go through the cycle of girls until there's no one new left."

Sirius made a face. "Girls are so clingy once you give them something to hold onto."

"Like when Prongs dated Kate and she wouldn't leave us the bloody hell alone?" replied Peter. "But she always left the top buttons of her shirt open..."

"Or when I was with that chick Allie. I mean she was cute, just a tad boring in the long run," said Sirius. "She was always lurking outside my classrooms."

"Allie was so short, you had to pick her up to snog her. Bloody hilarious!" laughed James.

Sunlight from the open windows flooded the corridor that led from the dungeons. The boys trekked down the hallway immersed in anecdotes from James and Sirius' impressive repertoire of one night stands and shaky relationships.

"But you are coming Friday... right?" Remus asked Sirius quietly as a throng of students filed into the classroom.

Sirius winked. "Of course I am, Moony."

**Reviews and concrit are much appreciated, I heart feedback.**


	2. Chances

**A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback from everyone who reviewed  
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**If anyone wants to beta this lemme know  
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**III.**

James strode into the Great Hall halfway through breakfast and made a beeline over to his friends, who sat in a ring at the very end of the Gryffindor House table. A few Ravenclaw girls began to flip their hair around and giggle as James strutted by. Offering no more than a nod of recognition or two, the raven haired boy made his way straight for the only girl in his field of view.

"Hello Lilyflower. Your hair looks very red today," he smirked, earning a dramatic eye roll.

"Welcome back, Prongs," greeted Sirius. James took a seat next to his best mate, and realized that Peter was stabbing at his fruit again.

"Let poor Wormtail eat this morning," he chuckled. Sirius shrugged and reached into the inner pocket of his robes.

He lazily flicked the wand, "_Finite Incantantem_."

Peter joyfully sporked one of the stawberries that was previously running around his plate and devoured it in one bite.

"How was Sinistra's Office?" asked Remus from over his copy of The Daily Prophet.

James groaned and poured himself some coffee. "It was bloody terrible. Been there since six filing papers. But Sinistra's pretty fit, and she was wearing that robe that you can kind of see through..." -James noticed both Lily and Elladora glaring at him- "...And I'm still beating you in the detention contest."

"Only by two, big deal," Sirius scoffed. "I'll get Snivelly later on. We haven't embarrassed him in days, so I figure he's overdue anyway."

"Set his hair on fire again," Peter replied eagerly, craning his neck to see down to the Slytherin table. "Looks like he hasn't washed it in a while."

"So Remus, anyone else we know dead?" Elladora quickly changed the topic upon seeing a scowl form on Lily's face. Her kohl-rimmed eyes scanned the newspaper from over Remus' shoulder, and she took a bite of melon.

Remus shook his head. "Not today. Just tips for safety against the Dark Arts and some article about new security measures at the Ministry."

"It's about time. Didn't one of the warlocks under He Who Must Not Be Named find its way into the Department of Mysteries?" asked Peter, eyes bulging out in excitement.

Remus shook his head and smiled tiredly at his over-zealous friend. "Mere fiction."

"No more coffee for you," Ella quirked an eyebrow at Peter.

"Yeah, where the hell'd you hear that?" asked James. "Did mummy send it in one of her love letters?"

"Potter, stop mocking him," demanded Lily. "Or I'll tell everyone how I see your mum give you a kiss on the cheek whenever-"

"-That's low, don't abuse your neighbor privileges," Sirius interjected.

"Quit being cheeky. We were having a nice breakfast before you two started acting like utter pricks," replied Ella.

"I was having a nice life before you started acting like a right bitch," retorted Sirius. Ella narrowed her eyes, but just smirked threateningly at him, and the dark-haired wizard smirked right back.

Rows of windows near the ceiling of the hall swung open, catching Peter's attention. "Time for the morning post," he announced, tucking into the pile of bacon on his plate.

Owls of every color, size and breed filed into the hall and swooped down to deliver their wares. A tiny grey owl made a crooked beeline for Ella, landing haphazardly in Remus' portion of scrambled egg.

"Sorry, she's sort of uncoordinated," apologised Elladora, scooping up the owl. She clicked her beak and held out the leg to which a small brown parcel was tied. "Aww, thanks Cambria," Ella stroked the owl's feathers gently. Cambria nipped at a pancake that was already cut up into smaller squares.

"Oi, Sirius, I forgot to tell you. I'm calling a quidditch practice today. I heard that Hufflepuff's new chasers aren't useless pricks like the last batch," said James as he buttered some toast, gulping down the rest of his coffee.

"Sounds good. This year we'd better take the bloody cup, we got robbed last year," Sirius replied.

"We'll practice our arses off and then when we win we can have a party for the whole house," declared James.

"Goes without saying," added Remus indifferently.

Lily's lips curved up into a small grin. "We just need to make sure not to let Prewett drink too much again. The rose bushes spit acid on him when he booted there."

"He actually tried to snog the suit of armor. Brill!" remarked Sirius.

"If we don't let Prewett drink a lot and do something stupid, then whose going to wear the dress this time?" Peter wrung his hands together subconsciously.

"Wormy do you really have to ask?" sighed Sirius. "Naturally, it falls onto you."

Remus chuckled and shook his head. _Also goes without saying._

**IV.**

Later that week a handful of the sixth and seventh year Gryffindors lingered in the common room for hours after curfew, burning the midnight oil to cope with the workloads of N.E.W.T. classes. James was lounged out on a comfy leather couch, barely able to keep his eyes open. He yawned and rubbed them from underneath his glasses.

"I can't do anymore work, honestly," James commented. "We have Charms first thing... Then Astronomy later at midnight... Urgh..."

"I wish Remus hadn't stopped doing our assignments. Him and his bloody prefect duties," said Sirius. He lazily flicked his wand, causing the snoozing Peter's dishwater blonde hair to twist itself. His head was almost fully engulfed by tiny braids.

James glanced across the common room to where Lily and Elladora were settled in armchairs by the fireplace. "What d'you reckon are the chances of me getting Evans to do our work?" he asked.

"Not very good," replied Sirius. "Lily was really peeved about the Snivelly thing earlier today, her face practically matched her hair."

James shrugged. "Snivelly was covered in stinksap, he should have been thanking me for pushing him into the lake."

"He was only covered in stinksap because we hexed that funny looking plant to attack him... Oi, Last time I nicked Ella's work I got an O. Maybe she'll cough it up," mused Sirius, rubbing his chin and gazing at the girls. "Hmm. And she looks pretty fit in that tank top. So it's worth going over there either way."

"Good call, mate," James remarked.

Sirius approached the girls, smoothing a hand through his dark locks of hair. He took a seat in a velour upholstered armchair and nodded at Elladora. He noticed that she was chewing bubble gum, drawing his gaze to her pouty, smooth lips.

"What do you want, Black?" Ella asked.

"I couldn't help but notice that you just finished a Charms essay. And what a coincidence, I haven't finished mine!" grinned Sirius.

She laughed dryly. "That took me over two hours to bullshit. It's gonna cost you."

Sirius decided to work an angle. He leaned in a little closer to Ella. "Well your Transfiguration grades are crap, and I happen to know that Lily's aren't much better," he said. Lily arched an eyebrow at him, straining to keep her attention on the assignment in her lap.

"What's it to you?" asked Ella. Flickering light from the roaring blaze within the fireplace danced across her porcelain skin, illuminating half of her pajama clad form. Sirius leaned in closer still.

"Well we could compromise, you know. Charms for a Transfiguration assignment in the future," suggested Sirius. His lips twisted into a mischievous grin that rearranged his features in a stunningly handsome way. Elladora rolled her eyes.

"Like I'd believe that you do your assignments, no less actually let me copy a version that isn't full of slander and innuendos. I know your game, Black."

Sirius' grin faltered slightly. Ella was being just plain difficult.

"I've got a bottle of firewhiskey in my room with your name on it. I know how you love the sauce," said Sirius. "I'll bring it to breakfast tomorrow morning if you give me the essay."

"And if you don't, I won't hesitate to set your essay on fire."

"Fair enough," agreed Sirius.

Ella smirked. "You stick to your side of the deal, and we'll make some fine business."

"Sounds good, especially coming from you," replied Sirius coyly, pocketing the essay with a wink. He turned to Lily. "Did you happen to skim through your notes lately, Evans?"

Lily silently held up her hand, a small white envelope tucked between her fingers. The small, heart shaped red seal was broken. "Tell Potter that he's quite the poet, expect he rhymed 'minute' with minute'," she said dully. With the flick of her wrist, Lily chucked the love note into the fireplace. James watched from across the common room with chocolate brown eyes wide as saucers as the paper curled up into a pile of ashes.

**V.**

"So Padfoot, swear to me you won't try anything dumb this time," said Remus sternly. A grouping of red slash marks was barely visible on his exposed chest, uniform shirt unbuttoned. Remus' complexion was ghostly, and he sank his teeth down into another bar of milk chocolate.

Sirius appeared offended. "That last prank was hilarious, Snape almost fell for it," he said.

"No it wasn't," dissented James. "I really hate doing the right thing, especially by Snivelly. So don't make me save his life again."

Peter popped an atomic fireball into his mouth. "Now Snape is karmically indebted to you," he shrugged.

"I want a fiery bird like Lily to owe me one, not a slimeball," said James distastefully, wrinkling his nose. He loosened the knot of his scarlet colored tie and looked up at Sirius. "Speaking of girls... What's good with Ella? I haven't seen you flirt that hard since Macelroy lost her head gear and grew some knockers."

"Stark? She may be fun to look at, but I kind of hate it when she talks," said Sirius, wrinkling his nose.

"Then let's do that thing with the itching powder in the bra. It's brill," Peter squealed.

"Let's put some in Lily's bra, too. I'd like to see her adjusting her knockers all day."

Remus glanced up at the clock on the wall, frowning. He stood up and began to button his shirt while pacing the room. With each step he took, the dusty old floorboards creaked and groaned in response.

Sirius watched his friend fretting and sighing. "Remmy, take my last chocolate frog. You need it," he offered. The ghost of a smile lingered on Remus' thin lips.

"Thanks. I do," said Remus, grabbing hold of the squirming treat and biting the frog's head clean off.

"Is it almost time?" asked James.

Remus nodded, shaky hands barely able to put on his black robes. "I'll meet you guys at the usual place?" he asked.

"Righto," agreed Peter, nodding.

"You ought to take a jacket. It looks windy out," said James.

Peering out the window onto the moonlit grounds, Sirius watched the tops of the Forbidden Forest's trees sway with frequent gusts of wind. An outline of the Whomping Willow was visible across the lake. One of its larger bows suddenly crashed downward, spiky branches picking off whatever woodland creature was unfortunate enough to be passing through.

Remus headed out of the dorm room and down the spiral staircase shivering with the jitters that came every month before the transformation.

"Since tonight's all tied up, we should go talk to the elves tomorrow?" said James, breaking the silence that had been brewing. Sirius snapped back into reality.

"I can't," he grinned. "Tomorrow night is all about Cirra."


End file.
